ArcardeOS + DOS = Sound Problem

[joshlindem]

I've done a lot looking through the different forums and not really finding an answer for what my problem is.

I'm having this issue where every time I boot up the PC I notice that the motherboard/BIOS is assigning IRQ10 to my sound card/multimedia and I can't seem to change that.

I'm using bootCD from http://www.arcade-emulator.co.uk/ which installs ArcadeOS within DOS.  As part of that installation I use the SoundBlaster 128 drivers, and that the autoexec.bat boots up trying to get that soundcard to use IRQ5.

When the computer is booting, as I said I notice just after POST that the sound card is being assigned IRQ10.  As autoexec runs I notice on a flash of the screen that it assigns IRQ10 to the sound card, though as I watch the boot continue it will finally konk out of ArcadeOS because the sound isn't working.

To say I'm getting frustrated is an understatement now.  I had this problem with one computer, so I traded it for another with my dad of a computer of close to equal comparison.... now it appears to be the same problem.   

Has anyone had this issue before?  The video appears to be working, it just seems to be the sound issue.  And when I think I have it so that the sound 'might' be working, when it plays the MAME MPG just before it boots up ArcadeOS it now freezes.

Here are the specs of my current system:

Motherboard
Crush MSI nForce420 Motherboard
Audio Sub Systems:        nForce MCP-D w/AD1885 Codec
Base Memory Size:         8, 16, 32 MB
BIOS Information:          SMBIOS: Ver 2.3 APM: 1.2 ACPI: 2 PCI: 2.2 PC2001
Cache:                          On Processor
Color Depth, Max:           32 bits
Communication Port:     Winbond W83627HF-AW 1 - 16C550A UART's 9-pin D-Sub 1 - Parallel Port SPP EPP ECP ECP and EPP
DAC Speed:                   300 MHz
Expansion Slots:              5 PCI, 1 CNR, 1 AGP
Floppy Drive Interface:    Winbond W83627HF-AW 1 - Floppy Drive
FWH Chipset:                 SST 49LF020, Winbond W49V002AP
Graphics Accelerator:        Integrated
Maximum Resolution:       1600x1200
Memory Size/Type:          266MHz (PC2100) DDR, 2.5V, non-ECC
Memory Size/Type:            Allocated Frame Buffer from System Memory
Northbridge Chip Set:        nForce IGP128
Primary IDE Type:             ATAPI Devices, PIO Modes 3-5 IDE, Bus mastering, Ultra DMA/33, ATA66, ATA100
Processor Type:                AMD Athlon XP
Refresh Rate at Maximum Resolution:   85 Hz
Slot Required Count:          1 AGP
Socket Type:                     Socket 462
Southbridge, Super I/O:     nForce MCP-D, Winbond W83627HF-AW

Memory On Motherboard
1.5GB

Video Card
AGP - ATI Rage TV Tuner Card (using the S-Video connection)

Sound Card
PCI - Creative Labs Sound Blaster CT4750 (with CT5880 chipset)
or
PCI - Creative Labs Sound Blaster CT4810
***Both sound cards look identical to this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102182

Please help 

[Fozzy The Bear]

Yes!!.......... 

Edit your Autoexec.bat file in a txt editor:
look for the line that reads:
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H5 P330  T6  (or something similar)

In this case, the part that says I7 is setting the IRQ to 7..... Change the number to whatever IRQ you want it set to. Provided that it's not conflicting with another IRQ then it should be OK. I7 or I10 or I5  are common ones.

If your Autoexec.Bat file does not have a SET BLASTER line then add one into it.

Also some of the earlier soundblaster cards have a jumper on board to hard configure the IRQ setting. Check if yours has this and set it accordingly.

Also with DOS the priority of the slots is important. Try moving your sound card down to the bottom slot that you have available on the mobo. This often helps. If that doesn't work, try sticking it in the top most slot. Also make sure that you have legacy support enabled in the bios.

Also! Make sure that you have any on board sound that your mobo has, disabled in the bios or disabled by jumpers if it requires that. It may be a conflict between your onboard sound and your Soundblaster that is pushing it up to IRQ10, It's more usual to find disk controllers occupying IRQ10, 11 and 14.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[fa001]

I found this thread useful.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=34164.0

Particularly the following statement:

"Actually, the SB PCI 128 and SB Live! cards *CAN WORK PERFECTLY* with DOSCab, but NOT if CWSDPMI is used as the DPMI server. The problem occurs only if Allegro and CWSDPMI are used at the same time with the SB PCI/Live! DOS driver (i.e. SBINIT/SBEINIT). Either replacing CWSDPMI by HDPMI32 (BTW: you need set HDPMI=512 for SB PCI), OR re-stubbing DOSCAB.EXE by the WDOS/X one using STUBIT.EXE, then the sound issue will be completely gone. I have both of these cards (SB PCI 128 and SB Live!), and DOSCab works fine with both of them after replacing CWSDPMI. This applies to similar programs (including the Allgero setup program) as well."

Changing over to HDPMI16 solved the problem for me.

[joshlindem]

As an update in response to Fozzy The Bear
(fa001 sorry, I'm not sure what you're referring to.  This is actually for Mame in DOS)

Now I've spent the last 3 nights working on this.  I went into the BIOS and shut down all internal devices (sound, nic, video, serial ports, printer ports, etc) and I've pulled out any cards in the machine that weren't needed so I only have my PCI sound card and my AGP video card.  Then I used your BootCD to re-install from scratch.

It took me a few times to run back adn forth into the BIOS and reservere IRQ so that I didn't have 2 different devices sharing the same IRQ number.  Right now when I boot up the computer auto-assigns IRQ's to the devices and it looks like this:
    SMB                 IRQ4
    Video Card        IRQ12
    Multimedia        IRQ5
    IDE Controller    IRQ14
    ACPI                IRQ 9

Sadly, as the bane of anyone's existence, the soundcard. When I start up the PC it shows the first MAME splash, and I can 'see' the MAME MPG, but I don't hear the sound.  And when that finishes it kicks me out to the DOS screen which in the past is a great indication that sounds not working (if I haven't figured it out by this point).
Something interesting is even though the sounds not working.... when the MAME MPG starts, I hear the speakers pop once or twice.  As if the sound is initializing, but doesn't?

1.  I did run DMAME ROBBY with no sound.  Game runs just fine.

2. I went into the the autoexec.bat and changed to BLASTER= A220 I5 D1 H6 P330 T4 as indicated in your webpages.  Unfortunately the same thing happens.  No sound and it kicks me out before ArcadeOS starts.

3. I was able to run SBCFG and here are my results though I don't understand them all too well:
PCI Hardware:  Port=C000, IRQ=5
SB16 Emulation: Port220, IRQ=5, DMA=1, DMA16=5
MPU-401 Emulation: Port=330, IRQ=5
Adlib Emulation: Port=388

Any suggestions?  I'm further along this time with the new motherboard.  I can at least play a game, but no sound.

[Fozzy The Bear]

OK.... as far as I can see, then this is a DOS drivers issue.  It looks like you have the interupts and DMA set correctly.

Can you attach a copy of your autoexec.bat and config.sys files to your next post, and I'll have a look at them.

The only other possibility, is that this particular sound card will not work under DOS..... There were a few of them that didn't.

There are a few things that are confusing me though....

1) you say "Then I used your BootCD to re-install from scratch."  My boot CD?? I haven't given you a boot CD?? what boot CD are you using??

2) you say "I went into the the autoexec.bat and changed to BLASTER= A220 I5 D1 H6 P330 T4 as indicated in your webpages." I don't have any web pages on this issue... so which web pages is it that you are looking at??

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[fa001]

Sorry if I confused you. Although the link I gave you was about something other than DMAME the issue is the same, getting sound to work in DOS.  I changed over to HDPMI16 to make my DMAME system work with a SB128 PCI card.

BTW the higher IRQ like 10 and 11 are remapped to the real numbers so they can be shared (used by more than one device).

Your AUTOEXEC.BAT file should include something like the following:

set blaster=a220 i10 d1 h7 p330 t6
set sbpci=c:\dosdrv
set hdpmi=512
c:\dosdrv\sbload
c:\dosdrv\sbinit.com
c:\windows\smartdrv.exe
c:\hdpmi32.exe
c:\mame.bat

And your CONFIG.SYS file should include the memory manager like:

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE noems novcpi

Post your AUTOEXEC and CONFIG.SYS.

- Fred

[joshlindem]

Thanks guys...

Fozzy -> When I get home this evening I'll post my autoexec and config files. 
And as to your new questions, sorry about that.  You have just been the reciept of a bad "cut&paste".  I thought I deleted most of the info that was not pertanent to you, but looks like I missed a couple.  So please just ignore those (2) items.  For clarification I am using the information found here at  .  At the same time I'm asking him similar questions, because as the saying goes "two heads are better than one" as I'm trying to gather a couple different looks at this issue.

fa001 ->  thanks for clarifying.  When I first read your post I was lost because I thought you took me to a discussion on building a jukebox and I was confused.  I will try your suggestion this weekend and see if it makes a difference.

[ark_ader]

I had this problem many moons ago when I still had ISA/VLB cards in my PC.

I had a PCI SoundBlaster 128 and it did the same darn thing everytime.

The BIOS caused the fault when I set the Flag for Automatic instead of Manual for IRQ allocation. I do believe its in PNP/PCI CONFIGURATION.

I would check that first before proceeding.  Normally those PCI SB cards should be going for 5/7 IRQ as default.  Mine would jump into IRQ 9 but i had all the slots taken.  IRQ 10 is unusual.   

Each mainboard has its quirks.  Lucky you are running DOS not Windows 95.   

Fozzy is on the right track.  Tell us what you are using for your startup disc, what DOS version or Freedos
and are you loading any TSRs?

[tikbalang]

here is a textfile i found:

Code: [Select]

File: SBPCIDOS.TXT
Author: Pat Kenny (prkenny@zip.com.au)
Date: 26 January 2000

Purpose: This document describes the steps to get the Creative Labs Vibra 128 sound card (Vibra 128) and the Creative Labs Sound Blaster PCI 128 sound card (SBPCI 128) working in the DOS operating system (as opposed to DOS sessions run from, or in the version of DOS accompanying, Windows 95/98). In the absence of any documentation on the subject by Creative Labs, the process has been determined empirically by the author through trial and error. Accordingly, the steps described may not work with all PCs. Further, the author had access to the Vibra 128, but not to the SBPCI 128, so the DOS installation process has only been validated for the Vibra 128 by the author. Confirmation of the validity of the DOS installation process for the SBPCI 128 sound card, or of improvements to the DOS installation process for either sound card, would accordingly be welcomed.

Test Bed Configuration:

Hardware:
Motherboard: twaNP5TX-Bpro ver 2.0e 09/25/1997
Bios: Award Modular Bios v 4.51PG
CPU: Pentium 200 MMX
Memory: 64 MBytes
Hard Disk: 2.5 GByte IDE
Floppy Disk Drive: 1.44 MByte 3.5"
CDROM: Mitsumi 6x IDE
Sound Card: Creative Labs Vibra 128 PCI
Video Card: S3 Trio 64 1 MByte PCI
Video Bios: S3 86C775 Video BIOS Version 1.01.04 06/27/97
Video Monitor: Ipex 15" SVGA
Network Card: Compex FL32 DEC 21041 Ethernet PCI
Keyboard: 104 key IBM
Mouse: Logitech 3-button

Software:
Operating System: MS DOS 6.22
Other Software: 3D Realms - Duke Nukem 3D
Interplay - Redneck Rampage
Capstone - Witch Haven
Capstone - Witch Haven 2
Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11

DOS Installation Procedure for Vibra 128 & SBPCI 128:

1. The following DOS installation files are included with the Creative Labs driver set for the Vibra 128 / SBPCI 128. They must be copied to a directory (eg, C:\SBPCI) on the PC's Hard Drive.

sblegacy.exe
sbinit.com
sbpci.bin
sbpci.ini

2. The following waveset files are also included with the Creative Labs driver set for the Vibra 128 / SBPCI 128. At least one of these files must be copied to a directory (eg, C:\SBPCI\WAVESETS) on the PC's Hard Drive:

eapci2m.ecw
eapci4m.ecw
eapci8m.ecw

Renaming a copy of the chosen file to "default.ecw" is recommended.

3. A specific line (normally the last line) in the sbpci.ini file must be edited to point to the location and name of the chosen waveset file, as follows (using the suggested directory and naming convention as an example):

Synthfile=c:\SBPCI\WAVESETS\default.ecw

4. The following entries must be inserted into the autoexec.bat file in the root directory of the C: drive (using the directory examples suggested in paragraphs 1 & 2):

SET SBPCI=C:\SBPCI
SET BLASTER=A:220 I:7 D:1 T:2
C:\SBPCI\SBLEGACY.EXE
C:\SBPCI\SBINIT.COM

Note that the values used in the "SET BLASTER=" statement should correspond with those specified in the SBPCI.INI file (A:<IO Port Address> I:<IRQ> D:<DMA> T:<Sound Blaster version>). Note also that SBLEGACY.EXE must be run before SBINIT.COM.

5. After rebooting the PC, DOS applications should recognise, and be able to use, the Vibra 128 / SBPCI 128 as an 8-bit mono sound blaster card. Each of the listed software applications were successful in doing so on the test bed. The author successively tested BLASTER environment variable values corresponding to a Sound Blaster Pro, a Sound Blaster 16 and a Sound Blaster AWE32 (all stereo cards), but the Vibra 128 responded as an 8-bit mon sound blaster card each time.

6. The following useful DOS utilities are also provided with the Creative Labs driver sets for use with the DOS installation of the Vibra 128 / SBPCI 128:

sbcfg.exe
sbload.exe
sbmixer.exe
sbtest.exe
mt32.exe
__________________



and here are 3rd party SB tools:

[tikbalang]

i also had success with CT4810 SB card using drivers from easymamecab (bootcd also available):

http://easymamecab.mameworld.net/html/snddosdr.htm

from what i remember, pci soundcards usually use IRQ10 but has to emulate SB settings on IRQ5 for DOS apps/games, which is why IRQ5 has to remain unused.